How the iPhone 14 Plus became one of the biggest tech flops of 2022

Of all the iPhones which fell this year, the iphone 14 plus has received the dubious distinction of performing the worst, commercially speaking. Many found it a bit strange. The iPhone 14 Plus was one of the best iPhones Apple had ever made. It shipped with the latest iOS, a processor that outperformed most Android phones, and a big, spacious screen, all accompanied by the best battery life you’d find in a smartphone.

Despite all those rewards, it’s not selling as well as expected. In fact, some reports claim that Apple has cut production of the iPhone 14 Plus to refocus on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. While it’s simplistic to position the iPhone 14 Plus as a flop per se, it has earned a place in our The worst iPhone of all time. list. In addition, it is useful to look at factors that might have caused poor performance. In this case, Apple has been its own worst enemy.

The iPhone 14 Plus is too expensive

I’ve delved a little deeper into this above, but the iPhone 14 Plus is a very expensive phone. Sure, all iPhones are expensive, but there’s something about a thousand that prompts introspection. Is this function necessary? Is that it? What can I get elsewhere?

These questions don’t really matter when shopping in the middle range of the matter. However, when you spend silly money on a phone, it gets a bit more interesting. For a little more money, the iPhone 14 Pro Max beckons for a little less, the iPhone 13 Pro Max you can have Apple is not only competing with itself here, and Google is excellent pixel 7 pro it undercuts the 14 Plus and offers a better camera and display.

At the same time, the iPhone 14 Plus may not necessarily be a failure, but rather represented an option to develop Apple’s line. Techsponential’s Avi Greengart told Digital Trends via email that without knowing Apple’s internal expectations, it would be difficult to quantify how far the 14 Plus went to meet those goals.

“Broadly speaking, Apple has been extraordinarily successful in bringing consumers to the top of its range – consumers are willing to pay more for improved images, display capabilities, and processor in iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14. Pro Max. This is especially true in markets where carriers heavily subsidize the phones of consumers with good credit; Why not get the best when you’re not paying more for it? Greengart said.

A redundancy problem

Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max offered terrific cameras, high refresh rates, and long-lasting batteries compared to their cheaper iPhone 13 counterparts. They also do the same with the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus. That’s because the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus share a lot of their internals with the iPhone 13 series. Along with the cheaper prices of older phones, there are plenty of reasons to avoid the Plus and few reasons to go for it specifically.

Take the big screen, for example. At just 60Hz, it’s noticeably inferior to the 13 Pro Max’s 120Hz screen, even battery life is almost as good as the 13 Pro Max. We could move up to the 12 Pro Max for a phone that has a weaker processor, but you get better build quality and an extra camera. Oh, and it’s much, much cheaper.

“I think Apple 14 Plus hit a blind spot in terms of price and spec mix. I agree with you that it’s probably due to the price; It’s quite expensive for the perceived minor improvements. Consumers are more interested in the big upgrades to the 14 Pro and Pro Max or the “relatively affordable” basic 14. I think the 14 Plus fell into the middle gap,” Jan Stryjak, associate director at Counterpoint Research, told Digital. Trends in an email.

Caught in a losing battle

Although Apple has stopped selling these iPhones, the rise of the circular economy (especially as seatbelts tighten) means many of these phones have returned to the market at lower prices than the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus. Apple may officially sell only a few iPhones, but the iPhone 14 Plus competes with a bevy of big-screen iPhones, from the iPhone 11 Pro Max to the 13 Pro Max, all with much more attractive prices. It is a losing battle.

Now this holiday could still prove that the iPhone 14 Plus is a big winner. Perhaps the crowd Apple was aiming for, the casual crowd, doesn’t overlap well with the early adopters who would buy the new iPhone just three months after it was released.

That could to occure. It’s hard to see them buying into the point of an iPhone 14 Plus over an iPhone 13 Pro Max if you buy outright, or a 14 Pro Max if you’re on a contract or payment plan. It turns out that even Apple products are not immune to the Apple effect.

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